Yeoman Technology Group - Amazon & Brand Ecommerce Consulting2019-09-15T09:54:40Zhttp://www.yeomantechnologies.com/profiles/blog/feed/allBest Practices Tip: How to Recruit Dealers & Partnershttp://www.yeomantechnologies.com/profiles/blog/website-best-practices-3-recruiting-dealers-partners2019-07-08T21:10:00.000Z2019-07-08T21:10:00.000ZMichael Healeyhttp://www.yeomantechnologies.com/members/MichaelHealey<div><p><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}35566607,original{{/staticFileLink}}" target="_blank"><img class="align-left" style="padding:10px;" src="{{#staticFileLink}}35566607,original{{/staticFileLink}}" width="275" alt="35566607?profile=original" /></a>Providing clear options for resellers as well as individuals interested in promoting/supporting your brand is a critical component for any brand. Traditional resale channels continue to struggle and the classic route of knocking on doors can often be accelerated if a buyer sees a clear communication option.</p>
<p>Both options should be clearly listed in the header and footer and provide a clear set of contact options.</p>
<p>This is especially critical for new brands - even major retail buyers now do the bulk of their new product research online. Make it easy for them to connect with you. Existing brands can also take a lesson from the newbies - some of the fast growing B2B and B2C retailers are pure-play online Companies. They won't be at that traditional tradeshow.....</p>
<p>Brands should also consider leveraging brand ambassadors/social partners who will provide additional marketing and selling support for their brands. </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>These programs take many forms and names including affiliate, brand ambassador, super fans, etc. Here's two great examples of programs:</p>
<p> </p>
<p> <a href="{{#staticFileLink}}35566568,original{{/staticFileLink}}" target="_blank"><img class="align-full" src="{{#staticFileLink}}35566568,RESIZE_710x{{/staticFileLink}}" width="710" alt="35566568?profile=RESIZE_710x" /></a></p>
<p><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}35566570,original{{/staticFileLink}}" target="_blank"><img class="align-full" src="{{#staticFileLink}}35566570,RESIZE_710x{{/staticFileLink}}" width="710" alt="35566570?profile=RESIZE_710x" /></a></p>
<p>How does your website do with recruiting dealers and partners? As always, feel free to contact us with questions and comments.</p></div>What’s in a Name?http://www.yeomantechnologies.com/profiles/blog/what-s-in-a-name2019-07-05T10:00:00.000Z2019-07-05T10:00:00.000ZStephen R. Montrosehttp://www.yeomantechnologies.com/members/StephenRMontrose<div><p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3294932935?profile=original"><img width="250" class="align-left" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3294932935?profile=RESIZE_320x320" width="250" alt="1060766792.png?width=250" /></a>What’s in a Name? In online merchandising just about everything.</p>
<p>Data quality online is one of the biggest problems manufacturers face. How good your product “looks” online (including not just clean photos, but also well-written product descriptions and titles) impacts everything from SEO rankings to customer preference to channel relations – so getting it right is important.</p>
<p>There’s a lot that goes into data quality. One critical element is the title. This is often the first and only information your prospect is going to see before making that all important decision to click or not to click. This snippet of text is also weighted heavily by the search engines, meaning a good title will get you in front of more prospects.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>The biggest mistake we see manufacturers make is using their 'own' terms for items, assuming that everyone knows what they mean. It's call the 'Curse of Knowledge' and can plague everyone from industrial manufacturers to beverage Companies that insist on calling their product 'soda'</p>
<p>At Yeoman we’ve developed a best practice for product titles, which uses a standard to ensure that the product title provides enough detail to assist the user in their search and navigation without having to see the image or read the detailed description. This provides a clearer and more consistent user experience as well as helps optimize each page for internal and external search engines. </p>
<p>Seems pretty straightforward. But here’s where it gets tricky.</p>
<p>For example, what word do you use to describe carbonated soft drinks? According to the handy visual on <a href="http://popvssoda.com" target="_blank">popvssoda.com</a>, there are three major regional variations including “soda” (Northeast, California), “pop” (Midwest), and “Coke” (South).</p>
<p>So when writing a best practice title, how do you reconcile regional variations to create a consistent experience that ensures customers can find products regardless of where they see them online (Google, Bing, Shopatron, Amazon, etc) – or where the customer is physically located?</p>
<p>Good question.</p>
<p>At Yeoman we’ve developed a best practice for product titles, which uses a standard to ensure that the product title provides enough detail to assist the user in their search and navigation without having to see the image or read the detailed description. This provides a clearer and more consistent user experience as well as helps optimize each page for internal and external search engines. </p>
<p>Give us a shout – we specialize in making sure your online data quality is top notch – no matter what kind of soda-pop your customers prefer.</p></div>Best Practices Tip: Adding Where to Buy Increases Everyone's Saleshttp://www.yeomantechnologies.com/profiles/blog/website-best-practices-2-channel-support-where-to-buy2019-07-02T09:00:00.000Z2019-07-02T09:00:00.000ZMichael Healeyhttp://www.yeomantechnologies.com/members/MichaelHealey<div><p><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}35566392,original{{/staticFileLink}}" target="_blank"><img class="align-left" style="padding:10px;" src="{{#staticFileLink}}35566392,original{{/staticFileLink}}" width="180" height="133" alt="35566392?profile=original" /></a>Brands have a unique challenge with websites. They have to combine sales, operations, marketing, customer service and channel programs into one site. These have to be organized and easy-to-follow for customers as well as partners. Here at Yeoman, we’re rather famous for our website best practices review. In this blog series, we’re going to reveal our carefully honed criteria, so you can make sure your website is engaging and converting customers with the best of them.</p>
<p>Yeoman research has proven that brands providing multiple buying options on their core site not only send more traffic to these sites, but they also have a higher sales rate on their own site and tend to get more requests to resell/partner. This is especially critical for new brands; showing strong retail options helps instill customer confidence in a new product.</p>
<p>The graph below shows the breakout of core actions from 750,000 visitors to one of our client brand websites. The brand sells at major retailers, as well as their own site. They added expanded 'where to buy' and 'become a dealer' links in 2016 as part of our recommendation to improve direct sales.</p>
<p> </p>
<p> <a href="{{#staticFileLink}}35569556,original{{/staticFileLink}}" target="_blank"><img class="align-right" style="padding:3px;" src="{{#staticFileLink}}35569556,RESIZE_710x{{/staticFileLink}}" width="171" alt="35569556?profile=RESIZE_710x" /></a></p>
<p>A clearly defined “where to buy” area should be included on the top menu with graphic links, especially for online options.</p>
<p>Yes - adding 'where to buy' improves your direct website sales. Why does this work?</p>
<ol><li>Instills confidence in buyer who may not know your brand</li>
<li>Shows your 'open' about your pricing (even though your price may be higher)</li>
<li>Gives them options if they don't want to buy.</li>
</ol><p>In this case, ecommerce conversion jumped almost 40% and the 5% of visitors opted to go directly to an retail partner!</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p style="text-align:center;">Some great "Where to Buy” examples:</p>
<p><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}35566431,original{{/staticFileLink}}" target="_blank"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}35566431,RESIZE_710x{{/staticFileLink}}" width="607" height="330" alt="35566431?profile=RESIZE_710x" /></a></p>
<p style="text-align:center;">Brands with a strong store presence should also consider adding a map-based locator. Here is an example:</p>
<p> <a href="{{#staticFileLink}}35566436,original{{/staticFileLink}}" target="_blank"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}35566436,RESIZE_710x{{/staticFileLink}}" width="597" height="335" alt="35566436?profile=RESIZE_710x" /></a></p>
<p style="text-align:center;">More advanced sites further integrate their channel support by providing direct links within a product page. Two examples:</p>
<p> <a href="{{#staticFileLink}}35566485,original{{/staticFileLink}}" target="_blank"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}35566485,RESIZE_710x{{/staticFileLink}}" width="627" height="341" alt="35566485?profile=RESIZE_710x" /></a></p>
<p> </p>
<p><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}35566490,original{{/staticFileLink}}" target="_blank"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}35566490,RESIZE_710x{{/staticFileLink}}" width="628" height="246" alt="35566490?profile=RESIZE_710x" /></a></p>
<p>How do your website’s “where to buy” options stack up? As always, feel free to contact us with questions and comments.</p>
<p> </p></div>Is Amazon Go a Go?http://www.yeomantechnologies.com/profiles/blog/is-amazon-go-a-go2019-06-12T17:20:00.000Z2019-06-12T17:20:00.000ZJulie Garmanhttp://www.yeomantechnologies.com/members/JulieGarman<div><p>Amazon opened its first retail storefront on Monday, January 22, 2018. The convenience store is located at 2131 7<sup>th</sup> Ave. in Seattle, and sells grocery items, ready-to-eat meals, and quick-meal kits – and of course features items from Whole Foods, who Amazon owns.</p>
<p>What makes this store so unique is that there are no checkout lines. You scan the Amazon Go app on your smart phone at the door, which will open the barrier gates to allow you into the store. (No app, no entrance.) Once inside, you shop by taking an item off the shelf and placing it in your bag. The item is automatically added to the cart in your online account.</p>
<p>How? Hundreds of cameras around the store and weight sensors on the shelves can see and identify which products you pick up. And if you decide you do not want an item you picked up, place it back on the shelf and the technology will remove the item from your online cart.</p>
<p>When you’re finished, “Just Walk Out” through the gates and you’re done. Amazon will send an electronic receipt to your Amazon Go app. There are no cashiers, and no waiting in long checkout lines. The store still has employees though. People are needed to restock shelves, prepare meal kits, and to check IDs in the alcoholic beverages section.</p>
<p>This sounds like some really interesting technology and an amazing new experience. Personally, I have some questions about how it works. Like what happens if the technology makes a mistake and charges me for something I didn’t buy? Can I scan my app to open the gate and have a friend walk in right behind me? And can that friend then get stuff for “free” or will it charge my account….or someone else’s? How does it know to put the items <em>I</em> pick up into <em>my</em> account? How much information are they colleting about each consumer’s purchase? And are cashier’s days’ numbered?</p>
<p>Time will tell how well it works, and what Amazon decides to do with it. There’s speculation of them implementing the technology in Whole Foods stores, opening other retail stores around the country, and of selling the technology to other retailers.</p></div>Amazon’s Internal Sales War Ends –How 1P and 3P Détente Could Hurt Brandshttp://www.yeomantechnologies.com/profiles/blog/amazon-cuts-10000-vendors-impact-on-brands2019-06-03T12:50:00.000Z2019-06-03T12:50:00.000ZWeb Operations Teamhttp://www.yeomantechnologies.com/members/0ruumepgs2881<div><p><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}1434258231,RESIZE_1200x{{/staticFileLink}}" target="_blank"><img class="align-left" src="{{#staticFileLink}}1434258231,RESIZE_710x{{/staticFileLink}}" width="206" height="97" alt="1434258231?profile=RESIZE_710x" /></a>Name your favorite family rivalry; Hatfield’s vs McCoy’s, North vs South Korea, Cane vs Abel, Serena vs Venus. Most end poorly but Amazon’s famous Vendor (aka 1P) vs Merchant (aka 3P) divisional competition is one of the core reasons for their amazing online success. That rivalry has taken a major pivot this month and if your brand isn’t on top of it, you stand to lose out.</p>
<p>Over 10,000 accounts that had been selling to Amazon suddenly saw their PO’s dry up this month. Many then received an email from the 1P team told them they <u>may</u> not buy from them anymore and recommend they consider selling on the 3P side! Was this a secret coupe? A digital détente? </p>
<p>Many were left scratching their heads as to what was going on. We’re not. </p>
<h1><span style="font-size:12pt;">The Back Story</span></h1>
<p>As most people know, when you buy an item on Amazon it doesn’t necessarily get shipped by Amazon. 3<sup>rd</sup> party sellers (3P) make up 55-65% of Amazon orders.</p>
<p>In fact, the majority of items on Amazon have multiple sellers including Amazon and a host of sellers. A top-selling item can have 100+ sellers. At the highest-level, Amazon loved this. They never run out of stock and sellers (including Amazon) are constantly battling to get the sale.</p>
<p>While the ‘top’ may have loved it, the two Amazon groups hated it. It was no secret that 1P buyers openly told brands they could not sell as a 3P Merchant (despite Amazon having clear rules they could) and regularly trashed-talked the 3P Merchant-side whenever they could. </p>
<p>On the 3P side, the dislike and distrust was a mirror image. Not only was there the constant buy box battle, but whenever a brand’s product started to gain traction on the Merchant side, guess who mysteriously added it on the Vendor side the next week? Yep the 1Pers.</p>
<p>This sudden shift was not unexpected. Amazon has been hinting at reducing the number of companies it buys from over the last few years. They took some initial steps including scrapping Vendor Express in 2018. However, there’s more to the back story:</p>
<ol><li>Executive Structure: Amazon quietly did some internal re-organizing last year, bringing the 1P and 3P groups under the same core leadership. </li>
<li>Warehouse Space: Amazon still doesn’t have enough room to manage its growth. Not only do they have to store their own purchases, but 30-40% of merchants use FBA (consigning their inventory to Amazon warehouses).</li>
<li>Success of Seller Fulfilled Prime: Last year was the first full year of “Seller Fulfilled Prime” a new program that lets a 3P ship any item they sell as ‘Prime’ as long as they can deliver it in 2 days. The big win for Amazon was letting merchants pick their geographic region; even a small seller can afford 2-day delivery in their 1-day UPS/FedEx zone.</li>
<li>1P vs 3P Margin for Amazon – Amazon always gets 15% of 3P sale regardless of the sale price or shipping cost. This can often mean Amazon makes more on a Merchant sale than an item they sell (especially items that are heavily, bulky, and low priced).</li>
<li>Overall Cost of running the 1P group vs the 3P group – A seasoned, smart, retail buyer is a hot commodity these days. Amazon always had a problem with buyer turnover and we suspect that’s a factor in this shift. The 3P side simply requires less contact with merchants; a 3P doesn’t even get a dedicated contact until they’re well over $10m a year. We suspect a few heads are going to roll later this year.</li>
</ol><p> </p>
<h1><span style="font-size:12pt;">Who got cut?</span></h1>
<p> </p>
<p>Yeoman has worked with 250+ brands on Amazon over the last decade. These range from huge brands to those selling less than $500k via 1P and as of this writing none (as in zero) have been turned off. Why? Simple – they are all the original brand manufacturer for the products Amazon is buying. </p>
<p>The bulk of the notices have gone out to two types of accounts:</p>
<ul><li>Classic Distributors who sell multiple brands: These small and mid-tier companies have likely been selling to Amazon for years, adding new products and filling gaps when brands can’t deliver. They’re at a high risk of losing their business, especially if the 3P market can offer these products instead</li>
<li>Heavy, Bulky, or Cheap items: Brands are not 100% immune from the cut. Shipping, storage, and contribution margin appear to play a big role in the decision, especially if the 1P never offered drop shipping as an option. If your product line is all three; you better keep your buyer happy.</li>
</ul><p> </p>
<h1><span style="font-size:12pt;">What should a brand do</span></h1>
<p>Yeoman has long advocated that a brand needs to <span style="text-decoration:underline;"><strong>manage and maintain</strong></span> a presence and strategy on <span style="text-decoration:underline;"><strong>both sides</strong></span> of Amazon. Solely focusing on either side <u>never</u> makes sense for a brand. Pivots like this have happened before; you always need to have a plan for both. </p>
<p>Yeoman has analyzed over 200,000 brand listings on Amazon. Here’ the reality of mid-sized brands sales on Amazon –</p>
<ol><li><strong>50-60%:</strong> Of actively selling SKUs on Amazon are in the brands primary 1P account
<ol><li>Majority are also sold by multiple 3P sellers</li>
</ol></li>
<li><strong>10-30%:</strong> Of actively selling SKUs are <u>sold by Amazon</u> but not purchased from the brand
<ol><li>That’s your existing distributors</li>
</ol></li>
<li><strong>40-70%:</strong> Of active selling SKUs are not sold by Amazon and instead are Merchant-created SKUs
<ol><li>Typically bundles, variants, and kits, but can also be rogue listings</li>
</ol></li>
</ol><p>Let that sink in. If you’re selling $5m on Amazon (either as 3P or 1P), you likely have another $3-7m getting sold via your channel partners. Mess this up and you’ll lose that revenue to another brand, including Amazon’s own private labels.</p>
<p>This pivot has the potential of weakening your overall sales dramatically in 3 ways:</p>
<p> </p>
<ol><li>Gaps in Catalog Coverage – Every brand should <u>always</u> have a handle on their product set on Amazon. Now is the perfect time to do a deep dive and see if any items have had a drop off. We’re not just talking about your 1P or 3P account – make sure your active items have someone selling them! You should also review top selling items that you’re not offering via 1P or 3P. Start listing them immediately (or make sure a partner is).</li>
</ol><p> </p>
<ol start="2"><li>Drop in Marketing Activity - Keeping an active and budget-smart Amazon marketing plan is a key factor in competing on Amazon. Yeoman always recommends maximizing the coverage for your brands, getting the most impressions for the best price. It not only helps drive longer tail sales, but it also helps create a better ‘on page’ positioning for your top sellers. Most (but not all) 1P accounts did some level of marketing. Your team needs to re-build, re-assess, and expand whatever AMS programs your running now to fill that potential gap.</li>
</ol><p> </p>
<ol start="3"><li>New Brand Registry Requests – This is a scary one. We’ve seen multiple request from brand distributors coming in over the past week asking them to give them access to Amazon’s Brand Registry. The reason? One of Amazon’s notes sent out to sellers telling them that if they don’t register in Brand Registry within 60 days, they may not get automatic POs going forward. <strong>Yeoman recommends NOT giving any distributor Brand Registry rights for now. </strong>Giving someone rights (even basic Brand Agent rights) means:</li>
</ol><ul><li>Amazon sees them as authorized for that brand</li>
<li>They immediately become authorized for 100% of the items in those brands – they will get the ‘add these products to your catalog’ in their 1P account</li>
<li>They have creating rights for any product in that brand</li>
<li>They will compete with you directly for items you are already selling</li>
</ul><p>This is classic Amazon. They don’t have a firm set of rules yet, nor did they say someone won’t get a PO. They just said they ‘prefer’ Brand Registry owners. </p>
<h1><span style="font-size:12pt;">Next Steps</span></h1>
<p> </p>
<p>This is an opportunity to strengthen your direct relationship with Amazon on both sides of the fence. Done right, this will not only grow your overall brand, but could also help mitigate some of the ‘race to the bottom’ pricing that occurs on Amazon.</p>
<p>Left unchecked, you’ll see your sales drop further and you’ll be back complaining about the other ½ of Amazon’s that’s messing up your sales. That family argument is fast fading away, time to make peace and get back to selling.</p>
<p>Michael Healey is the President of <a href="http://www.yeomantechnologies.com/">Yeoman Technology Group</a> and has 30 years of channel and brand management. Yeoman specializes in Amazon brand strategy and execution.</p></div>Best Practices Tip: Getting Search Righthttp://www.yeomantechnologies.com/profiles/blog/best-practices-tip-getting-search-right2019-01-15T14:00:00.000Z2019-01-15T14:00:00.000ZMichael Healeyhttp://www.yeomantechnologies.com/members/MichaelHealey<div><p><a href="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/35569967?profile=original" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img class="align-left" style="padding: 1px;" src="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/35569967?profile=RESIZE_710x" width="250" /></a>Search seems so simple. Give users a box and let them figure it out. Not so fast. Visitors simply expect great search everywhere online. Think about it this way: approximately 35-45% of your web traffic comes from organic search on an engine like Google or Bing. Naturally those users will want to leverage search on your site. If search is clunky, inaccurate, and/or incomplete, users will get frustrated and go back to Google—and possibly your competition.</p>
<p>Here’s how to get it right:</p>
<ul>
<li>Make sure your search function can perform basic spell corrections and return a message for zero hit results</li>
<li>Include full site search that returns results for both products and content (think help, blogs, and pages)</li>
<li>Give users the ability to filter and sort search results with faceted navigation</li>
<li>Provide clear images and calls to action in the search results, so users can see snapshots and quickly add results to their carts</li>
</ul>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>Here are some great examples of faceted navigation:</p>
<p><a href="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/35570006?profile=original" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img class="align-full" src="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/35570006?profile=RESIZE_710x" width="710" /></a></p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p><a href="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/35569979?profile=original" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img class="align-full" src="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/35569979?profile=RESIZE_710x" width="710" /></a></p>
<p>Give search a little thought and watch your stickiness and conversions start to climb.</p>
<p>Have you tried to use your own search function lately? How were the results? As always, feel free to contact us with questions and comments.</p>
</div>Best Practices Tip: The Importance of Navigation Menushttp://www.yeomantechnologies.com/profiles/blog/website-best-practices-1-top-navigation-menus2019-01-14T21:50:00.000Z2019-01-14T21:50:00.000ZMichael Healeyhttp://www.yeomantechnologies.com/members/MichaelHealey<div><p><a href="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/35566414?profile=original" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img class="align-left" style="padding: 10px;" src="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/35566414?profile=original" width="206" height="147" /></a>A well-constructed top menu is a critical component for any brand. As many as 15-40% of all visitors to a site rely on the classic, menu-driven links to navigate.&#160; This is especially important since research shows that only 35-45% of user start on the home landing page.</p>
<p>Clean, clear menus are needed for:</p>
<ul>
<li>Product (by type, brand, usage)</li>
<li>Company info (history, support, contact)</li>
<li>Shopping and purchasing (including where to buy, quote, and account info)</li>
<li>Social and informational (including social links, news, events, and information)</li>
</ul>
<p>A great example is Stonewall Kitchen's navigation menu:</p>
<p><a href="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/35566405?profile=original" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img class="align-full" src="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/35566405?profile=RESIZE_710x" width="710" /></a></p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>How does your website’s top navigation menu stack up? As always, feel free to contact us with questions and comments.</p>
</div>How to Empower Staff with Datahttp://www.yeomantechnologies.com/profiles/blog/how-to-empower-staff-with-data2019-01-02T13:40:00.000Z2019-01-02T13:40:00.000ZWeb Operations Teamhttp://www.yeomantechnologies.com/members/0ruumepgs2881<div><p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3294932885?profile=original" target="_self"><img class="align-left" style="padding: 5px;" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3294932885?profile=original" width="275" /></a>Data, data everywhere, and nary a data scientist in sight. Or at least, not one you can afford. It's a classic Catch-22. To thrive, businesses need to pull financial, sales, predictive, social, and other data into a complete view of the customer. But big data practitioners with fancy degrees who can bring sophisticated analytics chops to bear on that effort start in the six figures, if you can even find one.</p>
<p>Academics and consultants pontificate on the crisis. McKinsey &amp; Co. exclaims that advanced big data analytics, driven partly by the Internet of Things, could increase GDP in retailing and manufacturing by up to $325 billion annually and trim nearly as much from the cost of healthcare and government services by 2020. Too bad most organizations will never be able to hire that expertise. Yep, the world's got big data envy bad, and a data scientist is the silver bullet we all need.</p>
<p>Here's an alternative viewpoint: You don't need them. Instead, bring big data analytics down to earth, train some people, and use the tools you have, with a few select additions. Now before you go all Pi and post N∞ comments opposing the concept, hear me out.</p>
<p>Read the entire article at InformationWeek <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/big-data/software-platforms/analytics-for-all-no-data-scientists-needed/d/d-id/1306607" target="_blank" rel="noopener">http://www.informationweek.com/big-data/software-platforms/analytics-for-all-no-data-scientists-needed/d/d-id/1306607</a></p>
<p>(Written and researched by Yeoman Technologies' Mike Healey)</p>
</div>Best Practices Tip: Company Details and Historyhttp://www.yeomantechnologies.com/profiles/blog/best-practices-tip-company-details-and-history2019-01-01T14:50:00.000Z2019-01-01T14:50:00.000ZMichael Healeyhttp://www.yeomantechnologies.com/members/MichaelHealey<div><p><a href="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/35570430?profile=original" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img class="align-left" style="padding: 10px;" src="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/35570430?profile=original" width="275" /></a>Your ‘About Us’ page is often one of the top 5 organic landing pages across all industries. And users who read the ‘About Us’ page are 5-6X more likely to engage in a sale, contact request, or dealer app.</p>
<p>Take this great opportunity to expand your story beyond the short blurb of a product detail page or a partner’s site and engage customers on a more personal level.</p>
<p>Best practices content should include:</p>
<ul>
<li>The inspiration for founding the brand with a brief company history</li>
<li>Executive profiles, with images and social links</li>
<li>Extensive images and video are encouraged</li>
</ul>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>Some examples:</p>
<p>&#160;<a href="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/35570432?profile=original" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img class="align-full" src="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/35570432?profile=RESIZE_710x" width="710" /></a></p>
<p><a href="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/35570437?profile=original" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img class="align-full" src="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/35570437?profile=RESIZE_710x" width="710" /></a></p>
<p>So, brush off your storytelling skills and take this opportunity to draw visitors in with your expanded story as you promote your whole team.</p>
</div>5 Steps to Effectively Respond to Negative Amazon Reviewshttp://www.yeomantechnologies.com/profiles/blog/5-steps-to-effectively-respond-to-negative-amazon-reviews2018-12-31T21:10:00.000Z2018-12-31T21:10:00.000ZTina Saltmarshhttp://www.yeomantechnologies.com/members/TinaSaltmarsh<div><p><a href="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/125002065?profile=original" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img class="align-left" style="padding: 2px;" src="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/125002065?profile=RESIZE_710x" width="305" /></a></p>
<p>Reviews on one of the core values that Amazon brings to ecommerce.&#160; They have more product reviews than that top 25 ecommerce sites combined.&#160; And despite all the concerns about <a href="https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-1&amp;biw=1366&amp;bih=693&amp;tbm=nws&amp;ei=wFSaW9PCIcXr5gLP47_wCA&amp;q=%22amazon+fake+reviews%22&amp;oq=%22amazon+fake+reviews%22&amp;gs_l=psy-ab.3...6915.8011.0.8396.2.2.0.0.0.0.78.139.2.2.0....0...1c.1.64.psy-ab..0.0.0....0.IrTs6juuTkU" target="_blank" rel="noopener">fake reviews</a> (and there are a ton) consumers still rely on them heavily.&#160; Brands go to great lengths to make a quality product and nurture good reviews.&#160;</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>Unfortunately, bad reviews are bound to happen.&#160; This is especially critical when an item first launches.&#160; Getting&#160; 1 star review as the first review reduces your close rate but up to 80%!&#160; So what should you do about a bad review?&#160; Here our 5 best-practice recommendations:</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<ol>
<li>Step One:&#160; Determine the context of the review.
<ul>
<li>Is the reviewer a repeat one- and two-star reviewer?</li>
<li>Is the bad review subjective?&#160; “I didn’t like the flavor.”</li>
<li>Is the review unwarranted?&#160; Ex. Bad shipping experience, incorrect product.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Step Two:&#160; Decide what to do for the customer.
<ul>
<li>Faulty or damaged product?&#160; Send a new one.</li>
<li>Didn’t like the color/flavor/size?&#160; Offer a refund.</li>
<li>Just a crabby customer?&#160; Respond, but don’t engage.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Step Three: Fix the problem.
<ul>
<li>Faulty product:&#160; fix the issue and update the listing to indicate the new feature(s).</li>
<li>Shipping issue:&#160; work with logistics to rectify the problem so it doesn’t happen again.</li>
<li>Incorrect or unclear product details:&#160; update the title, images, bullets and description with clear wording.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Step Four:&#160; Respond to the review.
<ul>
<li>Be clear, factual, and professional.</li>
<li>Apologize for the bad experience.</li>
<li>Point out warranty information, return policies.</li>
<li>Include a customer service number.</li>
<li>Outline the steps you are taking to fix the problem.</li>
<li>Mention it if you are offering a replacement item or refund.</li>
<li>If the original poster or anyone else responds to your response DO NOT ENGAGE.</li>
<li>REMEMBER: This is for the benefit of the reviewers as well as all future customers reading the review.</li>
<li>Example response: “We are sorry to hear that (product) did not meet your expectations. We have refunded your money and updated the product description and photos to be more clear. Please feel free to reach out to us at 123-456-7890 if you have any other questions or comments.”</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Step 5:&#160; Follow up with the reviewer.
<ul>
<li>Follow up to ensure they are satisfied with your response.</li>
<li>NOTE: Remember, asking someone to change their review is against most channels’ (including Amazon’s) policies.</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ol>
<p><a href="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/106306966?profile=original" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img class="align-left" src="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/106306966?profile=RESIZE_710x" width="710" /></a>Monitoring product reviews, customer feedback, and performance metrics on a scheduled and regular basis is key to maintaining good-standings for your brand and within ecommerce channels.</p>
<p>Do you have other questions or need help?&#160; Call us at&#160;800-667-6098 or email us now:&#160;&#160;<a href="mailto:info@yeomantechnologies.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Info@yeomantechnologies.com</a></p>
</div>Amazon Brand Registry - It's Workinghttp://www.yeomantechnologies.com/profiles/blog/amazon-brand-registry-it-s-working2018-12-27T13:50:00.000Z2018-12-27T13:50:00.000ZKate Headen Waddellhttp://www.yeomantechnologies.com/members/KateHeadenWaddell<div><p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3294932842?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="250" class="align-left" style="padding: 10px;" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3294932842?profile=RESIZE_320x320" width="250" /></a>In our recent blog post,&#160;<a style="font-size: 1.17em;" href="http://www.yeomantechnologies.com/profiles/blog/amazon-brand-registry-what-you-need-to-know-right-now" rel="nofollow">Amazon Brand Registry: What You Need to Know Right Now</a>, we covered some of the advantages of signing up for the new Amazon Brand Registry. Of course the main benefit of the brand registry is that once you prove your brand belongs to you, Amazon will help you protect it against counterfeiters and unauthorized resellers.&#160;</p>
<p>Well, it's working.</p>
<p>Under the old brand registry, submitting tickets (reporting a violation of your brand) was a frustrating experience. It could take a long time for Amazon to respond, and they didn't always respond in your favor.</p>
<p>With the new and improved brand registry, we've seen our tickets get fixed almost in REAL TIME. It seems that with the added confidence Amazon has with their stricter brand vetting program, they are willing to respond quickly and decisively in your brand's favor.</p>
<p>Haven't signed up yet? Be sure to read the above-mentioned blog post for the links and critical tips for doing it the right way. You'll be glad you did.</p>
<p>Remember, if you need help with anything Amazon, Team Yeo is here to help!</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
</div>Best Practices Tip: Social Integrationhttp://www.yeomantechnologies.com/profiles/blog/best-practices-tip-social-integration2018-12-15T14:50:00.000Z2018-12-15T14:50:00.000ZMichael Healeyhttp://www.yeomantechnologies.com/members/MichaelHealey<div><p><a href="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/35570283?profile=original" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img class="align-left" style="padding: 1px;" src="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/35570283?profile=RESIZE_710x" width="250" /></a>It’s a social world. Customers expect to be able to interact with your brand across platforms with a seamless experience. Brands need to tightly integrate with all major social networks. Best practices include:</p>
<ul>
<li>Key social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, and LinkedIn should be prominently featured in the upper righthand corner of every page</li>
<li>Your team should create well-coordinated posts and campaigns that run across all platforms</li>
</ul>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>Top header social media links example:</p>
<p><a href="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/35570285?profile=original" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img class="align-full" src="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/35570285?profile=RESIZE_710x" width="710" /></a></p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>Social media campaign example – home page, Facebook, and Twitter:</p>
<p><a href="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/35570247?profile=original" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img class="align-full" style="padding: 10px;" src="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/35570247?profile=RESIZE_710x" width="710" /></a></p>
<p><a href="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/35570251?profile=original" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img class="align-full" src="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/35570356?profile=RESIZE_710x" width="710" /></a></p>
<p><a href="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/35570406?profile=original" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img class="align-full" src="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/35570406?profile=original" width="615" /></a></p>
<p>How’s your social media presence? Do you have trouble keeping it up-to-date? As always, feel free to contact us with questions and comments.</p>
</div>Three Key Skillsets Your Staff Needs to Succeed Onlinehttp://www.yeomantechnologies.com/profiles/blog/what-skills-do-your-staff-need-to-succeed-on-amazon2018-11-26T20:00:00.000Z2018-11-26T20:00:00.000ZTina Saltmarshhttp://www.yeomantechnologies.com/members/TinaSaltmarsh<div><p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3294931990?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="250" class="align-left" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3294931990?profile=RESIZE_320x320" width="250" /></a>Yeoman is often asked by clients to help identify 'gaps' in their teams' abilities to be more digitally focused.&#160; Most companies we work with often have great sales teams, a solid marketing group, and good business analysts but they still struggle with the best way to support their sales and distribution efforts online.&#160;<br />
&#160;<br />
Over the years, Yeoman has found most organizations have gaps in 3 key areas:<br />
&#160;</p>
<p>1. <strong>Online Product Merchandising</strong>:&#160; The actual creation of product details online is often relegated to a junior buyer, marketing associate, (or worse) an intern. The thought of what product details will be often comes last and is rushed out as the product is shipping.&#160; Big mistake.&#160; Building up your internal content skills is one of the best ways to improve your overall footprint.&#160; This includes everything from best practice titles, product details, images, specifications, categorization, etc.&#160; This isn't a one time task; it needs to become part of someone's role for three reasons:</p>
<ul>
<li>Optimized Channel Content – Once you create this base of content, you need to not only make sure it gets on your main site, but on partner sites like Amazon, Wal-mart, or Graingers.&#160; They have a massive volume of visitors and some unique ways that they present their content.&#160; Your staff need to be able to write web-friendly descriptions and titles, as well as understand applicable keywords and categorization for each partner.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>Content Updates – This is different from creating the initial content and is more about learning to look at high volume items and adjust the copy or add images to help increase sales.&#160; With experience, your team will be able to take slow-moving items and turn them into top sellers.&#160; The ability to look at overall volume <span style="text-decoration: underline;">across different online channels</span> is a major competitive advantage (trust us--most companies never do this).</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>Review Management and Response – This should be the responsibility of your merchandising team (vs customer service).&#160; Sites like Amazon rely so heavily on reviews that your merchandising team should be tasked with monitoring overall review activity and responding to product questions or negative reviews.&#160; This is a critical part of success on Amazon or other larger marketplace sites.&#160; Amazon does not monitor your products for bad reviews - you have to.</li>
</ul>
<p>&#160;2. <strong>Demand Generation Management</strong>:&#160; Yeoman likes to use the term "demand generation" as a way to categorize the execution of the different components of your overall Marketing plan. Most organizations have good marketing visions and strategies, but most fall short when it comes to executing the actual digital plan.&#160; One of the biggest mistakes we see is the organization outsourcing the entire demand gen effort to an outside agency, believing that they have the skills and best interest of the business. Big mistake. Your team needs to be the leader and driver of the digital programs and make sure they fit with the overall plan - especially the offline sales efforts. An agency will likely have the skills in one or more areas, but rarely has the desire to directly support all required online programs including:</p>
<ul>
<li>Classic Paid Search: Including text and display ads</li>
<li>Re-targeting programs: Every visitor to your site should be part of a long term re-marketing program that is used for new product releases, seasonal activity, etc. Most organizations look at re-targeting as 30 to 90 day buckets.&#160; We recommend thinking in 1.5 year levels.</li>
<li>Email marketing:&#160; Still relevant and important for every organization</li>
<li>Social: Yes, we know it's the darling of most marketing folks today but are you using it properly or just following the pack?&#160; Quick test - if you're a B2B or educational vendor, the bulk of your social posts should be on LinkedIn, not Facebook.</li>
<li>Channel Demand Programs:&#160; This is often the biggest misstep, especially with Amazon.&#160; The monster of all ecommerce has their own series of demand generation programs that every organization should be capitalizing on:
<ul>
<li>Merchant Demand Programs:&#160; These are keyword ads that run on your merchant account.</li>
<li>Brand Page Management:&#160; Amazon Brand Pages are a great way to represent your company and product line on Amazon.&#160; Brand Pages allow for their own keywords campaigns as well.</li>
<li>Review Program Management:&#160;&#160; This is a key area for careful attention, especially for new products. Your staff need to be responsible for any review campaigns as well as leveraging a feedback system to help request additional emails from customers who purchase on Amazon.&#160; The response or updating of any questions or negative reviews will typically be the responsibility of the product merchandising team.</li>
<li>Author Page Management (for Publishers):&#160; This is a marketing function to make sure that your listed authors are properly represented on the site.</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
<p>3.&#160; <strong>Business Analytics Reporting</strong>:&#160; If you have an existing team who is responsible for business and ecommerce analytics reporting, this team needs to step it up and start integrating digital behavior, especially web and channel activity.&#160; We’re not talking about just sales figures.&#160; This reporting is more about overall activity and how it relates to revenue.&#160; Your reporting team should be tracking:</p>
<ul>
<li>Key impression levels and desired activity:&#160; Most organizations have a misunderstanding of who sales are made online.&#160; Marketing agencies often get in trouble for claims like "Ad impressions closed 25% of direct sales" because it's simply not true.&#160; The entire organization needs to build up their understanding of key data elements:
<ul>
<li>Impressions - How many times was your product or brand is seen digitally.&#160; This includes ad impressions, emails sent, social chatter, etc.&#160; This is a high level number that helps you see your 'depth.'</li>
<li>Desired Actions - This is NOT just sales, but includes site visits, product detail pages views, dealer look-ups, trial registrations, etc.&#160; Every product has a slightly different path to sales.&#160; Key actions help the organization understand if the funnel is being filled.</li>
<li>Sales Driver and Influencer Factors - A big step for every organization, especially when you're looking at direct site activity.&#160; Yeoman has analyzed over 1 billion visits over the last 6 years in almost every industry and has found that 100% of all ecommerce sites have a percentage of visitors that are 'multi-visit' and 'multi-funnel' (which mean that some % of people come back multiple time and different ways before they buy).&#160; Let's say that again - every business has a % of customers who engage multiple times before they buy.&#160; Offline we all know that historically but online you can actually see it (if you look). Every campaign needs to be able to report its sales support in three ways:
<ul>
<li>Last click - Did an email or ad 'bring the user back" to the site to complete the sale (or desired goal)?&#160; This is the most common way digital ROI gets reported and can severely understate the overall impact of a campaign.</li>
<li>Assisted click - Any typical company will likely see 25-75% of their direct traffic coming back multiple times before buying, requesting a quote, or competing some other goal . It's critical to report on how many times the average user returned and what % of a campaign's clicks 'assisted' in an eventual sale.&#160; Email is a classic example of a campaign that tends to have a higher 'assist' rate than 'last click' rate.</li>
<li>Impression assist - If the user didn't click on an email, social post, or ad, but did eventually buy that 'impression activity' can be attributed as helping the sale. It shouldn't be claimed as the reason, but instead seen as part of that overall blend that supports a plan.&#160; This type of data is trackable if your team properly configures their systems.</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Product views and close rates (both direct and on Amazon):&#160; This is a key analytics report that should be monitored weekly.&#160; All the data is available, your team just needs to pull and monitor it on a regular basis.&#160; This is a key report that helps both teams:
<ul>
<li>Merchandising team – Identifies items with low or high close-rates for optimization</li>
<li>Marketing team – Leverages data on volume and trends for marketing programs</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>Campaign Reports:&#160; These would include any marketing campaigns (like Google AdWords or email) and channel campaigns within Amazon.&#160; Your team should pull this data and integrate it with the product activity reports to give Marketing some insight on direct and indirect influencers of sales. The three buckets above should be part of any campaign report.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>Brand and Review Performance:&#160; Yeoman recommends that you monitor overall review performance and brand chatter online.&#160; Review management is critical for partners like Amazon and if left unchecked, one bad review can torpedo a strong product.&#160; Brand chatter monitoring also helps you identify potential issues or negative activity and cut it off before it does damage.&#160; Need an example?&#160; Ask your team to sweep your products on Amazon for you.&#160; Chances are you'll find a top seller that is sitting with 1 or 2 negative reviews and is dying on the vine at Amazon.</li>
</ul>
<p>Need guidance on where to begin?&#160; Yeoman can help develop and launch all of these programs, processes and reports.&#160; Yeoman engagements always have the goal of training and transitioning on-going tasks over to your staff, but if you prefer, Yeoman is also available to stay on and run operations on a longer-term basis, especially if your internal staff needs to build up their skills.&#160; Call or email us today!</p>
</div>Last Minute Tips for Brands - 5 Things To Do Before Thanksgivinghttp://www.yeomantechnologies.com/profiles/blog/are-you-ready-for-the-holidays-5-things-you-can-do-now-to-maximiz2018-11-13T13:40:00.000Z2018-11-13T13:40:00.000ZMichael Healeyhttp://www.yeomantechnologies.com/members/MichaelHealey<div><p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3294933176?profile=original" target="_self"><img class="align-left" style="padding: 10px;" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3294933176?profile=original" width="250" /></a>Hard to believe it's almost Thanksgiving.&#160; If you're like most manufacturers, there's a belief that your holiday die is cast; reseller orders are in, final pricing negotiated, market plans set, and budgets spent.&#160; It's all up to the channel now, right?&#160; Wrong.&#160; Brands have a golden opportunity to gain more market share at the holidays by taking a 'direct' online approach.&#160; We're not talking about undercutting your channel, but instead fully leveraging your main digital channels to get the best overall coverage at the holidays.</p>
<p>Here's the top 5 things you can do this week:</p>
<ol>
<li><strong>Amazon Footprint Review:&#160;</strong> In 2017 Amazon snapped up an estimated 45-50% of all online holiday retails sales—up from 38% in 2016. Love them or hate them, it doesn't matter - your products are on Amazon and should be reviewed by your team.&#160; Key items to sweep:
<ul>
<li>Product details:&#160; Yeoman's landmark research has shown that 70-80% of a brand's listings have bad information on Amazon.&#160; Take your top sellers and make sure they look right! You still have time to check your&#160;<a href="http://www.yeomantechnologies.com/profiles/blog/your-ugly-baby-how-bad-is-your-data-quality" target="_blank" rel="noopener">product details and images</a>&#160;to make sure that they accurately represent your products.&#160;</li>
<li>Duplicate listings: Another major issue to check for.</li>
<li>Brand pirates: If you haven't already, it's time to make sure you have your&#160;<a href="http://www.yeomantechnologies.com/profiles/blog/amazon-brand-registry-what-you-need-to-know-right-now#gsc.tab=0" target="_blank" rel="noopener">brands registered for protection from pirated products</a>.</li>
<li>And forget about Cyber Monday… Amazon has created a new shopping frenzy, with the period between Thanksgiving Day and Cyber Monday now known as the “Cyber 5.”&#160;</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><strong>Sweep you own site's pricing:&#160;</strong>It's amazing how many good brand sites we see with terrible pricing.&#160; It's one of the biggest mistakes brands make.&#160; The justification goes something like this "<strong>we have to show a high price to protect our channel."</strong>&#160; That's simply dead wrong.&#160; Typically, 70% of a brands site traffic comes directly, via referral or organic search.&#160; End users are looking specifically for product details, including an assessment of price.&#160; Less than 5% of site visitors have any intention of buying direct; you are the 'trusted research' they're doing. When you show an artificially high price you:
<ul>
<li>Immediately put off the consumer - If they have a range in mind, you've lost them.</li>
<li>Miss the opportunity to sell direct.</li>
<li>Miss the opportunity to push them to a partner - your 'where to buy link' should actually have a higher % of clicks than 'add to cart.'&#160; A bad initial price cuts that number in half, sending them back to Google.</li>
<li>Sends them back to Google to search more - that's the last place you want to send them.&#160; Every competitor and partner is there waiting to sell them anything, not just your brand.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><strong>Clean up your product details:&#160;</strong>&#160;Price isn't the only thing to review. Here's the top 'quick fixes' to improve your site: (PS:&#160; If your site can do these basic tasks quickly it's time to replatform in 2019.)
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.yeomantechnologies.com/forum/topics/online-data-management" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Polishing your product details</a>&#160;is an easy win.&#160; You can quickly fix everything from inaccurate specs to missing images and even missing products.&#160;</li>
<li>'Where to buy' links:&#160; If it’s inaccurate and out-of-date (or absent), shoppers will go scurrying right back to Google, where they’ll be bombarded by search results featuring the competition.</li>
<li>Main banner images: It's the holidays so do a quick refresh to get in the spirit.&#160; Even a simple tweak re-engages stale return visits.</li>
<li>Review your search terms:&#160; Look at the top 25 searches from last Christmas. Test them out on the site now. Tweak and revise the results.&#160;</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><strong>Schedule some email blasts:&#160;</strong>Chances are you have two great lists sitting idle this time of year: end users and partners.&#160;&#160;
<ul>
<li>Retail partners: an easy and useful blast during the holidays is a 'Channel Note' sharing your insights into what's trending and what's in short supply for your products. Retail craves outside data and any insights you can give them helps bolster your relationship.</li>
<li>End customers:&#160; If you've got a bucket of end user emails there are two great options that can cut through the barrage of emails they're getting: excess inventory sales and "Top X Products."&#160; Moving excess inventory will always make your CEO happy and likely avoid any channel conflict this time of year.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><strong>Polish up your sagging social media presence:</strong>&#160;Don't fret if your brand doesn't have 500,000 likes and a million followers, the vast majority of midsize brands don't.&#160; That doesn't mean you let you Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest accounts languish...time to give them a quick update.&#160; While you should have&#160;<a href="http://www.yeomantechnologies.com/profiles/blog/top-ecommerce-trends-for-2017-facebook#gsc.tab=0" target="_blank" rel="noopener">a robust social media campaign schedule</a>, the reality is these often lag way behind.&#160; Do a quick holiday facelift with updated banners, logos, and a minimum of five scheduled posts, pics, or tweets, and you'll get a 'fresh look' for the holiday visitor.&#160; It also gives you some fresh ammo for a 2019 discussion on why you need a better social footprint.</li>
</ol>
<p>Taking these steps will help ensure you make the most of holiday sales opportunities, so you can relax and enjoy the new year!</p>
<p>If you’re not sure where to start, feel free to give us a call to help you get a handle on it.</p>
</div>Is eBay Dead? (And Does it Matter)http://www.yeomantechnologies.com/profiles/blog/is-ebay-dead2018-10-29T15:20:00.000Z2018-10-29T15:20:00.000ZMichael Healeyhttp://www.yeomantechnologies.com/members/MichaelHealey<div><p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3294933014?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="200" class="align-left" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3294933014?profile=RESIZE_320x320" width="200" /></a></p>
<p>Not quite. But the auction format it built its business on may be a thing of the past. As long ago as 2009, CEO John Donahoe announced that the core auction business had not “kept pace with the changing competitive environment nor kept pace with our customers’ needs.” He outlined plans to breathe new life into the company by&#160; expanding its ecommerce offerings and making auctions just one aspect of a bigger online shopping experience enabled by an “end-to-end ecommerce powerhouse.”</p>
<p>Unfortunately, they haven't quite made the leap even though fixed price selling represents almost two-thirds of sales on the site according to eBay and industry estimates. However, this change hasn't translated into more customers and visitors.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>But with traffic and sales slowing again in recent years, and with new and old competitors like Amazon, Google, Etsy, Walmart, and Alibaba breathing down its neck, things aren’t looking so good for eBay. The Company has been making some big pivots lately, spinning off PayPal and selling eBay Enterprise to a private equity firm.</p>
<p>That leaves eBay with its marketplace business — which has shrunk for the past two quarters and has had declining visitors.</p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3294932367?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="500" class="align-right" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3294932367?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="500" /></a>What’s eBay’s plan to grow revenue without PayPal and their marketing platforms? For now they're copying Amazon, expanding internationally and launching services like “eBay Plus”, a direct answer to Amazon Prime, offering free next day shipping for an annual fee.</p>
<p>What does that mean for you, as a manufacturer?</p>
<p>For now, very little.&#160; They do not have the visitor traffic that Amazon commands, nor are they considered the 'first' place a person looks for product information.</p>
<p>All sales are via 3rd parties with little to no centralized quality control for products details.&#160;</p>
<p>While this can often present products in a poor light, this rarely expands beyond the eBay site when it comes to reviews and lost sales.&#160;</p>
<p><strong>Bottom line</strong> - Top quality product details and review still matter more on Google and Amazon.&#160; Many manufacturers have opted to make eBay a presence for discontinued and overstock items; keeping that 'low budget' model alive.&#160;&#160; For many, it presents a 'safe' place to move items at a lower price without impacting the primary channels.&#160;</p>
<p>Keep an eye on their activity and visitor levels. If they truly come out with some online innovations, make sure your organization is in a position to pilot and/or ramp as needed.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
</div>Best Practices Tip: Great Product Details Lift Offline Saleshttp://www.yeomantechnologies.com/profiles/blog/website-best-practices-4-product-detail-page2018-10-23T21:20:00.000Z2018-10-23T21:20:00.000ZMichael Healeyhttp://www.yeomantechnologies.com/members/MichaelHealey<div><p><a href="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/35566587?profile=original" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img class="align-left" style="padding: 10px;" src="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/35566587?profile=original" width="209" height="232" /></a>The "product details" page is the most critical page on any website, but is often over looked because of a focus on home pages, blogs, etc. But as the primary action point for almost every desired goal (offering options to buy direct, find a reseller, become a reseller, and get a quote) it needs to combine all the core content a visitor needs to make a purchase - from any channel.</p>
<p>Yeoman's research has shown that product pages that incorporate our best practices not only have higher direct sales, they also have higher Amazon sales <em>and</em> higher offline sales. Why? Think of each product detail page as its own site - organic search often sends customers directly to the product details page, so you'd better supply visitors with the key information.</p>
<p>Start by thinking of your page as two distinct sections: "above the fold" and "below the fold," with the "fold" being the point where a user has to scroll down to see more details.&#160;</p>
<p><strong>Above the fold.</strong> A whopping 75-85% of users <span style="text-decoration: underline;">never</span>&#160;scroll down on an ecommerce site, so all key information must fit in the mobile or laptop window. This includes:</p>
<ul>
<li>Clear title (that includes core details, not just the brand name)</li>
<li>4-8 properly sized, scrollable images</li>
<li>Product reviews, shown as stars</li>
<li>Price (incuding any discounts)</li>
<li>2-3 clear actions, such as “Add to cart”, "Add to Quote", and/or “Where to buy” to support resellers</li>
<li>Summary description and ‘leading’ content to bring users down the page; simple, clear bullets are shown to work best</li>
</ul>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Don't</span> waste this valuable space with long videos, wordy descriptions, or stories about you.&#160; That's perfect content for below the fold.&#160;&#160;</p>
<p><strong>Below the fold.</strong> This is NOT a throw away area. Users who scroll down typically have a 2-3% higher conversion rate than those who stay at the top. Why? They want more information and details and are willing to scroll down to read it. This is where you provide it. Including:</p>
<ul>
<li>Expanded video clips</li>
<li>Comparison charts</li>
<li>Product specifications (if applicable)</li>
<li>Samples/examples (if applicable)</li>
<li>Cross-sell and upsell items</li>
<li>Expanded content (including story, history, etc)</li>
<li>Q&amp;A / FAQ</li>
<li>Social feeds (including links)</li>
<li>GREAT TIP --- Repeat the "add to cart" button further down the page (extra points if you have a floating buttons that scroll with the user)</li>
</ul>
<p>Trying to cram this information at the top of a mobile or desktop screen simply increases abandoment rate.&#160; Modern users all get the scrolling, providing them engaging details below the fold works.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><strong>Some great examples</strong></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.westcottbrand.com/products/scissors/westcott-8-straight-titanium-bonded-scissors-with-soft-grip-handle.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Westcott Scissors</a></p>
<p><a href="https://www.westcottbrand.com/products/scissors/westcott-8-straight-titanium-bonded-scissors-with-soft-grip-handle.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img class="align-center" src="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/70795510?profile=RESIZE_710x" width="523" /></a></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.fatbraintoys.com/toy_companies/fat_brain_toys/swing_a_ring_small.cfm" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Fat Brain</a></p>
<p><a href="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/35566594?profile=original" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img class="align-center" src="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/35566594?profile=RESIZE_710x" width="541" height="732" /></a></p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>Brands have a unique challenge with websites. They have to combine sales, operations, marketing, customer service and channel programs into one site. These have to be organized and easy-to-follow for customers as well as partners. Here at Yeoman, we’re rather famous for our website best practices review.&#160;</p>
<p>How are your online product details? As always, feel free to contact us with questions and comments.</p>
</div>6 Steps to get you ready for the holiday shopping rushhttp://www.yeomantechnologies.com/profiles/blog/6-steps-to-get-you-ready-for-the-holiday-shopping-rush2018-10-12T16:50:00.000Z2018-10-12T16:50:00.000ZMichael Healeyhttp://www.yeomantechnologies.com/members/MichaelHealey<div><p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3294932231?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="250" class="align-left" style="padding: 10px;" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3294932231?profile=RESIZE_320x320" width="250" /></a>It’s hard to believe, but Black Friday and Cyber Monday are right around the corner. That means it’s time for manufacturers to do a holiday-prep double-check to help boost sales.</p>
<ol>
<li><strong>Polish up your Amazon presence.</strong> The total holiday shopping revenue on Amazon in 2016 was $91.7 BILLION. Amazon is now calling the shopping period between Thanksgiving Day and Cyber Monday “The Cyber 5.” Ramping up to the Cyber 5, there’s still time to check your <a href="http://www.yeomantechnologies.com/profiles/blog/your-ugly-baby-how-bad-is-your-data-quality" target="_blank" rel="noopener">product details and images</a>&#160;to make sure that they accurately represent your products.&#160; You also need to make sure you have your&#160;<a href="http://www.yeomantechnologies.com/profiles/blog/amazon-brand-registry-what-you-need-to-know-right-now#gsc.tab=0" target="_blank" rel="noopener">brands registered</a> for protection from pirated products.&#160;</li>
<li><strong>Mobile first.</strong> Speaking of Amazon, on black Friday, mobile sales surpassed $1 billion on a single day, and over 72% of Amazon shoppers worldwide shopped using a mobile device. If you haven’t made the leap yet, this is the year for you to get mobile. While there may not be time to launch a mobile friendly site before November, it’s certainly worth getting something in place. &#160;We’ve found that even terrible mobile sites get activity on mobile ads. This is really a case of just getting something going, and then working on perfecting it over time.&#160;</li>
<li><strong>Refresh / activate a Google manufacturers feed.</strong> A Google Manufacturer Center feed helps you share detailed product information such as product titles, descriptions, images, key features, YouTube videos, and more. The data is used to enrich Google's overall product catalog and helps them enhance product information and increase the quality of shopping ads. If you haven’t signed up yet, <a href="https://www.google.com/intl/en/retail/solutions/manufacturer-center/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">get moving</a>. &#160;If you are signed up, <a href="https://www.google.com/intl/en/retail/solutions/manufacturer-center/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">log in</a>,&#160;and be sure your product feed is up to date.</li>
<li><strong>Enable <a href="https://support.google.com/adwords/answer/7178291?utm_source=GooglePlus&amp;utm_medium=social-media&amp;utm_campaign=affiliatelocation" target="_blank" rel="noopener">affiliate location extensions in Google AdWords</a>.</strong> Original manufacturers that sell their goods in retail chains can now begin promoting those locations to nearby consumers within their own AdWords ads. Basically, when someone searches for a product on Google, your ad will appear with your affiliate location extension. The customer sees the nearest store, either as an address or on a map. If they’re on a mobile device, they can just tap to get directions.&#160;</li>
<li><strong>Expand your <a href="http://www.yeomantechnologies.com/profiles/blog/top-ecommerce-trends-for-2017-facebook#gsc.tab=0" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Facebook presence</a>.</strong> If you haven’t started thinking about social media for the holidays yet, it’s not too late—but it will be soon. In addition to planned social media campaigns, it’s also important to have a “live” presence on social media, to interact naturally with followers, and for the inevitable customer service requests that come in through these channels.&#160;</li>
<li><strong>And etcetera.</strong> Check a few of these quick items off your list to give holiday sales an extra boost:</li>
</ol>
<ul>
<li>Update your website homepage with prep-for-holiday messaging, and consider include a gift-wrapped image on your site or with your Amazon product details.</li>
<li>Consider creating a bundled product offering.</li>
<li>Increase prices across the board.</li>
<li>Review Google Analytics and make sure any 2017 events/sales/promos/weather-related events are annotated for review in 2018.</li>
<li>Review your website for any old copy or old reference dates and update with 2018 as needed.</li>
<li>Review your inventory and set up a plan for clearing out the old to make room for the new. For example, you can send an end-of-year newsletter to your retailers with ideas for them to help you get rid of 2017 products.&#160;</li>
<li>Send “thank-you for a great year” messages or gifts to your distributors.</li>
</ul>
<p>Taking these steps will help ensure you can relax and enjoy the holidays!</p>
<p>If you’re not sure where to start, feel free to give us a call to help you get a handle on it.</p>
</div>Fast Lane: Getting Product to Markethttp://www.yeomantechnologies.com/profiles/blog/fast-lane-getting-product-to-market2018-09-03T19:00:00.000Z2018-09-03T19:00:00.000ZSara Walentahttp://www.yeomantechnologies.com/members/SaraWalenta<div><p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3294932258?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="305" class="align-left" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3294932258?profile=RESIZE_320x320" width="305" /></a>&#160;Here are a few easy steps to get a new product to market and quick: &#160;</p>
<ul>
<li>Design an innovative product and be confident in your ability to deliver this product at some point in the “foreseeable future,” actual date not necessary.</li>
<li>Rock the marketing for said product and be sure to create a buzz. One way to accomplish this is to turn to You Tube.&#160; Make a clever video, insert a hipster type, “Average Joe,” have him crack a few jokes, explain what your product is and hope this goes viral.</li>
<li>Now you may need some capital to manufacture your product, try crowdfunding.&#160; &#160;Kickstarter, IndieGoGo and Tilt are a few crowdfunding programs gaining popularity.</li>
</ul>
<p>Sounds simple right? This process is actually happening, people. Products such as Navdy, <a href="http://www.navdy.com/" rel="nofollow">www.<strong>navdy</strong>.com/</a> are being sold online today as part of a discounted “pre-order” program powered by Tilt.com, yet the production of these Navdy units is not complete. They do not even have a solid date as to when consumers will receive their product and sales are being made. A boat-load of sales. The company was looking to raise $60k in the 30-day pre-order period, but quickly surpassed that goal and in just seven days raised a whopping $1 million and they are now at over $6.5 million. &#160;And Navdy is not alone, there are others out there, Coolest Cooler &amp; Pebble Smartwatch&#160; followed similar crowdfunded &#160;paths and found success. &#160;We at Yeoman love to support original manufacturers, giving them the tools to best use the internet to attain their goals.&#160; So get out there and harness the power of the web and sell, sell, sell!</p>
</div>Quantify the Impact of Mobile Ads in Driving Store Visitshttp://www.yeomantechnologies.com/profiles/blog/quantify-the-impact-of-mobile-ads-in-driving-store-visits2018-08-15T00:10:00.000Z2018-08-15T00:10:00.000ZStephen R. Montrosehttp://www.yeomantechnologies.com/members/StephenRMontrose<div><p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3294932637?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="250" class="align-left" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3294932637?profile=RESIZE_320x320" width="250" /></a>Shoppers often will learn about a product, retailer, or offer from a mobile ad, then visit the bricks and mortar store to complete the purchase.&#160;</p>
<p>But tracking the store visit back to the ad has been a challenge for advertisers.&#160; Placed (<a href="http://www.placed.com" rel="nofollow">www.placed.com</a>) provides a platform that measures the impact of mobile advertising campaigns in driving traffic to your stores.&#160;</p>
<p>Chief Product Officer Tim Barnes said “the ability to quantify consumers' offline behavior with digital touch points will systematically transform the way media is measured.”</p>
<p>How do you measure the effectiveness of&#160;mobile ads to drive in-store sales?&#160;</p>
</div>Amazon Prime Day – Still All It’s Cracked up to Be?http://www.yeomantechnologies.com/profiles/blog/amazon-prime-day-still-all-it-s-cracked-up-to-be2018-07-06T19:47:46.000Z2018-07-06T19:47:46.000ZMichael Healeyhttp://www.yeomantechnologies.com/members/MichaelHealey<div><p><a href="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/50384354?profile=original" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img class="align-left" style="padding: 10px;" src="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/50384354?profile=original" width="351" height="195" /></a>Amazon Prime Day—July 16 - 17 2018— The official day is out and the hype is underway.&#160; But is it worth it for your brand?&#160; This year saw a big increase in deal fees as well as bigger discount requests for Prime Day promos.&#160; Now brands have to decide what other pricing changes they'll make and how much they'll spend on AMS campaigns.&#160;</p>
<p>Before you make your final decision, it’s important to note that quite a few things have changed since Amazon ran its first Prime Day promotion four years ago. Here are a few things to keep in mind:</p>
<ul>
<li>The trend toward 'more Amazon' brands will continue.&#160; And its not just Alexa.&#160; Amazon now has more than 80 house brands (that’s twice what they had last year) and you can expect the company to push its own brands come Prime Day.&#160; These brands are in almost every category from consumer to industrial</li>
<li>Yeoman research tells us that year-over-year sales growth for non-Amazon brands has slowed between 2016 and 2017—that is, there was an uptick, but it was slower than between 2015 and 2016.</li>
<li>Amazon touts the event as a sort of “Christmas in July,” and third-party brand sales were still the highest of the summer during Prime days last year, but NOT as high as peak holiday sales.&#160; Christmas is still the peak for most consumer brands</li>
<li>The cost of running deals for your brand on Prime Day has almost DOUBLED since last year. Amazon marketing cost per click has TRIPLED over the past three years and we expect those to be 2x last years CPC on Prime Day</li>
</ul>
<p>The takeaway? Amazon will have a huge Prime Day again this year, but it will be largely driven by Amazon’s own core products. Here at Yeoman, we still think Prime Day is a good way to boost traditionally slower summer sales, but don’t expect it to have the boost for your brand that it has in the past.&#160; It's a lift in the dog days of summer, but it's now Amazon's show; you're brand isn't going to get the boost it used to.</p>
<p>Going forward, we believe that brands should look at this as part of a longer-term trend. Amazon is a great channel, but one that understands data, buying patterns, and brand loyalty better than anyone else in the world. And they’re prepared to use that to their own advantage focusing building up their Prime Customer base then offering them everything from movies to their own brands of clothing.&#160; &#160;</p>
<p>Every brand has an opportunity to grow on Amazon, but needs to plan that growth as part of an overall sales strategy.&#160; All in on Amazon?&#160; Not a great.&#160; The current list is in every major category with the vast majority not branded as amazon&#160;<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-private-label-brands-list-2018-4">http://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-private-label-brands-list-2018-4</a></p>
<p>Nobody knows more about channel conflict, sales strategy, and the pros/cons of Amazon than Yeoman.&#160; Contact us today to have a conversation and keep on growing.</p>
</div>Best Practices Tip: Help and Supporthttp://www.yeomantechnologies.com/profiles/blog/best-practices-tip-help-and-support2018-06-15T13:42:51.000Z2018-06-15T13:42:51.000ZMichael Healeyhttp://www.yeomantechnologies.com/members/MichaelHealey<div><p><a href="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/35570271?profile=original" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img class="align-left" style="padding: 10px;" src="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/35570271?profile=original" width="245" /></a>Making it easy for consumers to connect with you significantly improves your online presence. Visitors that can call, email, or chat with an agent are less likely to take to social media to voice any concerns, and they tend to post positive social comments after making contact.&#160;</p>
<p>Contact info needs to include:</p>
<ul>
<li>A dedicated support and/or help page with a clear navigation link in the top and bottom sections of every page</li>
<li>A contact phone number in the upper right corner and in the footer of every page</li>
<li>An email address in the footer</li>
<li>Live chat – strongly consider this option if staffing is available</li>
</ul>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>If applicable, help customers get support faster by classifying pages – support, warranty, contact, returns, etc. While these may seem redundant to you, users tend to refer to these specific terms, use them in search, and look for them in menus.&#160;</p>
<p>Page footer example:</p>
<p>&#160;<a href="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/35570274?profile=original" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img class="align-full" src="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/35570274?profile=RESIZE_710x" width="710" /></a></p>
<p>Contact / customer service example:</p>
<p>&#160;<a href="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/35570235?profile=original" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img class="align-full" src="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/35570235?profile=RESIZE_710x" width="710" /></a></p>
<p>Larger brands should consider full ‘help center’ sections with detailed support for all brands including direct access to customer service reps. Here is an example:</p>
<p><a href="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/35570279?profile=original" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img class="align-full" src="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/35570279?profile=RESIZE_710x" width="710" /></a>&#160;</p>
<p>Is your help section helpful? Have you considered adding live chat? As always, feel free to contact us with questions and comments.</p>
</div>Report Shows 67% of Online Shopping Carts are Abandoned - How to Get Shoppers Backhttp://www.yeomantechnologies.com/profiles/blog/67-of-online-shopping-carts-are-abandoned2018-05-07T12:30:00.000Z2018-05-07T12:30:00.000ZStephen R. Montrosehttp://www.yeomantechnologies.com/members/StephenRMontrose<div><p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3294932558?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="250" class="align-left" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3294932558?profile=RESIZE_320x320" width="250" /></a>According to a recent report put together by the Baymard Institute, an independent web research company, <strong>67% of online shopping carts are abandoned.</strong> That means that 67% of web shoppers looked around your site, picked out one or more things they liked enough to save into a cart, and then just...didn't buy them. Why not?</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>The&#160;four&#160;main&#160;reasons&#160;online browsers&#160;don't make that&#160;online purchase include:</p>
<p><strong>1.</strong>&#160;<strong>Taxes and Shipping</strong>.&#160;Shipping just bumped a&#160;$29.99 purchase&#160;up to&#160;$41.50. The total price is too much. Bye-bye, customer.</p>
<p><strong>2.</strong>&#160;<strong>Buyer’s Remorse</strong>. Shopping around and putting things in your cart is a guilt-free pleasure. But once you see everything you picked out,&#160;a sense of regret&#160;can outweigh the actual enjoyment of potentially using the product.&#160;Customers start to ask themselves: Do I really need this product? 67% of them say "no."&#160;</p>
<p><strong>3.&#160;It was fun to pretend.</strong> I was just browsing or comparison shopping. I never planned to buy the item, or I went somewhere else and got a better price.</p>
<p><strong>4.</strong>&#160;<strong>Problems with the website.</strong> The website crashed or timed out, your website navigation is too complicated, the customer had&#160;concerns about payment security, or their payment was declined. Oops.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>So, once they leave, can you ever lure those customers back? There are&#160;two proven ways to&#160;deal with abandoned carts, and turn some of those browsers into buyers:</p>
<ol>
<li><strong>Ad Retargeting</strong>.&#160;&#160;This uses cookies to track people who visited your site and&#160;show&#160;them&#160;ads of their abandoned products&#160;as they&#160;cruise around the web. Sometimes a little reminder is all they need.</li>
<li><strong>Email Recovery Campaigns</strong>.&#160; You can create a series of emails that get sent out to the shopper after they have abandoned their cart and left your site. These often include a special offer, like "free shipping", that give the customers a reason to come back and complete their order.</li>
</ol>
<p>If you've got abandoned shopping carts, Yeoman can help you figure out why customers are stopping short of purchasing from you, and then develop and execute a plan to get them back. Get in touch to discuss your ecommerce issues with us today.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>Source:&#160; Baymard Institute, a web research co. based in the UK.&#160; 67% is an avg. based on 22 different studies.&#160; <a href="http://baymard.com/lists/cart-abandonment-rate" rel="nofollow">http://baymard.com/lists/cart-abandonment-rate</a></p>
</div>Why Amazon Continues to Grow – How They Do ithttp://www.yeomantechnologies.com/profiles/blog/why-amazon-wins-the-4-pieces-of-the-amazon-puzzle2018-05-01T11:40:00.000Z2018-05-01T11:40:00.000ZCompetitive Strategy Grouphttp://www.yeomantechnologies.com/members/CompetitiveStrategyGroup<div><p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3294931451?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="250" class="align-left" style="padding: 5px;" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3294931451?profile=RESIZE_320x320" width="250" /></a>Amazon had 900 million visits Christmas 2014,&#160; 1.3 Christmas 2015, and have regularly cracked the 1 billion visitor mark every month this year (as of May 2016). Let that number sink in. That’s 3x the population of the United States. The giant of retail, Wal-Mart only has 240 million visits a month. Target? 140 million. Grainger (for you B2B manufacturers)? 7 million. And Amazon visitors are buying. Amazon holiday sales will likely be up 20-25% over Q4 last year. That’s a decade of double digit YoY holiday sales growth (in case anyone’s counting :)&#160; And its not just the US - we see this growth in UK, Europe, and Canada.</p>
<p>What's their secret?&#160; They key for any manufacturer or publisher to understand, is that Amazon’s success IS NOT simply due to the products Amazon buys and sells online. That’s only one part of it.</p>
<p>They succeed because Amazon.com is really a system that pits 4 competing divisions against each other to drive overall sales - Amazon Supply, Amazon Merchant, Amazon Marketing Service, and the technology teams that optimize the content that's produced.</p>
<p>While these 4 groups are all technically ‘part of Amazon', they actively compete against each other in a way that creates an optimized experience for the customer. No single group has full control over the products sold or the final price.&#160; A buyer can be undercut by a merchant, who can be stepped on by a marketing campaign from another brand.&#160; And all three of these forces have to deal with the search and performance engine that heavily leverage performance based analytics to select "who" gets top results ranking and the coveted buy box.&#160;</p>
<p>The best way to illustrate this is to break down an actual Amazon search results page and define who’s in control. Search usage dominates Amazon buyer behavior with an estimated 90%+ of users searching during their visit.</p>
<p>If you break out a typical search results page you see how the 4 pieces interact and conflict.</p>
<ol>
<li><strong>Search results delivered:</strong> What makes the top of the list is a based on the proprietary search model that’s managed by Amazon’s A9 search team. The system is heavily data centric and is not directly controlled by Amazon buyers, merchants, or marketing teams. Top results are typically the best sellers, however, the system regularly manipulates results to test overall close rates. What’s interesting to note is the close rate does not just measure the item, it can include the overall shopping cart and favors items that tend to attract ‘add-ons’ to the sale. Classic ‘search terms’ apply and manufacturers can add hidden terms (e.g. competitor brand names) to ensure proper placement.</li>
<li><strong>Product details shown</strong>: Product details are created by mixing Amazon supplier and third-party merchant content. Any partner can upload an image, change a description, or add features and it will be tested and implemented by the system. Any partner can create any SKU at any time (as long as it is not a restricted product) . This is an area that should be regularly reviewed by your team. If you don’t sell the item to Amazon you can bet someone else will do a listing for you. (link to quality report)</li>
<li><strong>Sponsored product listings</strong>: These are paid product ads available <u>exclusively</u> to third-party merchants. The third-party must own the buy box in order for the ad to run. This gives merchants the ability to get their products seen (and pay for a click). If an item does well, it begins to naturally move up the results, freeing up the space for the next paying tester.</li>
<li><strong>Categorization:</strong> This area is largely controlled by the Amazon supply group. They are responsible for creating all of the different groups and subgroups for every department. The supply side is also the primary populator of these categories, but does NOT have exclusive control. A third-party merchant can upload any item into a relevant category by adding the SKU. This is critical for items that cross multiple categories (e.g. many office, home, and health and beauty items should be in multiple categories).</li>
<li><strong>Brand ads:</strong> A relatively new addition, the brand ad box is controlled by Amazon marketing. Brand manufacturers can create specific brand or product campaigns selecting any group of keywords they like. In this example, York Nordic hiking poles show up as an alternative option for canes. This is an excellent option for a manufacturer with items that sell across different consumer groups.</li>
</ol>
<p>Today, Amazon seems to be in everything from movies, to cloud, to drones. This ability to diversify is funded by a simple reality – online sales continue to grow exponentially. Over 70% of Amazon’s revenue comes directly form ecommerce sales, either direct or through third-party merchants that are forced to share a common platform that is designed to squeeze out the best result for the consumer, because the underlying technology is optimized to drive the best value to the front. The relatively new Marketing Services adds a new wrinkle to the mix—we’ll keep you posted on new developments.</p>
<p>Yeoman’s recommendation for manufacturers and publishers selling on Amazon remains the same: you must have a strategy and plan to <u>actively manage</u> supply, merchant, and marketing forces in order to optimize your results with the underlying technology engines.&#160; succeed with them. Simply ‘selling to the buyer’ at Amazon is only one piece of the puzzle.&#160; Contact us today to review your Amazon position!</p>
</div>Online price discrimination?http://www.yeomantechnologies.com/profiles/blog/online-price-discrimination2018-04-04T14:40:00.000Z2018-04-04T14:40:00.000ZStephen R. Montrosehttp://www.yeomantechnologies.com/members/StephenRMontrose<div><p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3294933205?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="375" class="align-left" style="padding: 3px;" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3294933205?profile=RESIZE_480x480" width="375" /></a>&#160;If you’re shopping from a Manhattan zip code or logging in with a Mac (avg. household income for Mac owners is 32% higher than Windows PC owners), Orbitz concedes that you’ll pay more for your hotel room.&#160; Orbitz has rolled out what it calls a “predictive analytics” initiative in an attempt to increase revenues.&#160; Indeed, it’s not hard to find examples of different people paying different prices based on their demographic checkboxes.<br />
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Orbitz isn't showing the same room to different users at different prices, but more luxurious rooms at higher prices to certain users.<br />
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The sort of targeting undertaken by Orbitz is likely to become more commonplace as online retailers scramble to identify new ways in which people’s browsing data can be used to increase online sales.</p>
</div>Are You Ready to Go “All In” Online? Not So Fast...http://www.yeomantechnologies.com/profiles/blog/are-you-ready-to-go-all-in-online-not-so-fast2018-02-27T13:30:00.000Z2018-02-27T13:30:00.000ZWeb Operations Teamhttp://www.yeomantechnologies.com/members/0ruumepgs2881<div><p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3294931742?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="250" class="align-left" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3294931742?profile=RESIZE_320x320" width="250" /></a>Now that “the internet” has widely become considered a mature and stable sales channel, a small percentage of the more daring manufacturers and publishers are actually considering cashing out on catalogs and going “all in” online. The theory is, that customers only want to shop online and catalogs are costly and time-consuming paper weights that just end up in the old circular file.</p>
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<p>As an online strategist, you might think that Yeoman would be encouraging this line of thinking. But you’d be wrong. We firmly believe that offline and online efforts need to complement each other. The question should not be&#160;"offline vs. online," but "are you where the customer wants&#160;to buy from you?"</p>
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<p>These days, customers think of a “store” as both online and offline and will continue to migrate to the players that make it easy for them to buy – when and how they want to.&#160;&#160;</p>
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<p>Take one of our clients in the education space. They had such great results from our online demand gen programs that they decided to experiment with cutting catalog distribution to shave costs. The result? Their organic search traffic dropped off &#160;25% that month, proving that organic search is actually driven by that shiny catalog showing up in the mail.</p>
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<p>What does this mean for you? You need to continue to develop as many of your online sales channels as your customers are likely to be in. (See our <a href="http://www.yeomantechnologies.com/forum/topics/internet-sales-distribution" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Internet Sales Channel Review white paper</a> to find out more). But for now, you also need to continue to be there for them offline as well.</p>
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<p>If you're not sure if you have a presence where your customers are buying (or researching) purchases, give us a call. We'll help you find out where your customers are and&#160;execute a plan to get you in front of them when and where they want to buy.&#160;</p>
</div>Customers not opening your emails? Here’s why.http://www.yeomantechnologies.com/profiles/blog/customers-not-opening-your-emails-here-s-why2018-02-23T16:10:00.000Z2018-02-23T16:10:00.000ZKate Headen Waddellhttp://www.yeomantechnologies.com/members/KateHeadenWaddell<div><p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3294933102?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="350" class="align-left" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3294933102?profile=RESIZE_480x480" width="350" /></a></p>
<p><strong>Email is dead... long live email!</strong>&#160; Here at Yeoman we handle quite a bit of email web operations for our clients as part of our <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.yeomantechnologies.com/forum/topics/full-internet-management" target="_blank">Outsourced Web Operations services</a>.&#160; Part of that means applying our best practices to email newsletters and then tirelessly testing and tweaking our approach to maximize open rates and click-thrus.</p>
<p>That’s why I was tickled pink to find this infographic from Kissmetrics showing that industry research supports our key best practices for email marketing. &#160;Some of the highlights include:</p>
<p><b>Format your emails for mobile.</b> Not convinced you need to? Over 40% of consumers now open their emails on a device other than their desktop PC—a number that’s been skyrocketing in the last few years.</p>
<p>And if they can’t read it easily on their smart phone or tablet, 89% of them will just delete it, and 27% will unsubscribe from your list. With 39% of marketers saying they do not have a mobile marketing strategy, making a few tweaks to your email marketing plans could yield big competitive advantages.</p>
<p><b><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3294931637?profile=original" target="_self"><img class="align-right" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3294931637?profile=original" width="536" /></a></b></p>
<p><b>Keep it simple.</b> This point is key for every communication you send out – whether it gets opened on a mobile phone or a desktop PC. Go easy on design elements. Have a catchy subject line. Get to the point quickly. Have a clear CTA, and position it toward the top of the message. Respect your readers’ time, give them something worth reading and a compelling reason to take the next step and you will see open rates and other metrics increase.</p>
<p>Of course, every company has a unique set of customers with common behavioral characteristics. But don’t worry, the proof is in the numbers. If you need help figuring out who your audience is and the best way to get their attention, give us a call.</p>
</div>Updated Website Best Practices Scorecard Releasedhttp://www.yeomantechnologies.com/profiles/blog/2018-website-best-practices-scorecard-released2018-02-13T13:20:00.000Z2018-02-13T13:20:00.000ZYeoman Research Teamhttp://www.yeomantechnologies.com/members/YeomanResearchTeam<div><p><a width="250" href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3284397007?profile=RESIZE_320x320" target="_self"><img width="250" class="align-left" style="padding: 5px;" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3284397007?profile=RESIZE_320x320" width="250" /></a> The Yeoman team is pleased to announce the 7th update to its Website Best Practice Scorecard.&#160; Now in it's seventh year, the scorecard let's manufacturer's and brands compare their websites against 121 Best Practices across multiple industries.</p>
<p>Manufacturers and publishers have a unique&#160;challenge with&#160;websites. Their sites have to combine sales, operations, marketing, support, and channel programs.&#160;These&#160;have to be&#160;organized and easy-to-follow for customers and partners. Plus they have to be 'consumer friendly' and keep up with the latest trends in devices and behavior.&#160;<br />
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The scorecard was created by Yeoman Technology Group based on an extensive review of the top 500 websites of manufacturers, content/course providers, and publishers. This primary research was then combined with usability studies from leading consulting and analysis firms.&#160; The result is a set of Best Practices criteria that are proven elements of successful websites and, in many cases, the expected functions of any professional system. Note that the benchmark does not rate design look, theme, colors, messaging, and etc. These are all specific creative elements that should be driven by your organization’s marketing and branding teams.</p>
<p>This year's scorecard was specifically expanded in several key areas:</p>
<ol>
<li>Responsive Design:&#160; Not only are their additional requirements for mobile functionality, a key 'best practice' is the overall footprint for desktop viewing.&#160; They majority of laptops and desktops are now wider than the standard 960 pixels of most sites.&#160; All sites should incorporate this wider screen format.</li>
<li>Geolocation Options:&#160; The 'find a retailer' link is dead.&#160; The new best practice combines geolocation targeting and interactive maps that help a user find your product.&#160; In addition, all products should 'deep link' to partner retail sites if applicable.</li>
<li>Live Chat: It's no longer a nice option, the best rated B2B and B2C now have some level of live chat available on the site.&#160;</li>
<li>Advanced Analytics:&#160; The good news is the majority of sites now have some level of analytics running, the bad news is most aren't configured properly.&#160; Base analytics have always been a part of the scorecard, but this year we've added requirements for retargeting, behavior profiling, and socio-economic data capture.</li>
<li>Privacy updates:&#160; Always boring and usually ignored, every site needs to have their policies reviewed and updated for new EU and upcoming US changes.</li>
</ol>
<p>Yeoman's scorecard is provided to all existing clients as part of their engagement with Yeoman.&#160; Scorecard ratings are available as a stand-alone service for $1,500 to $3,500 per site. This includes scorecard creation and formal report review.&#160; Contact Yeoman today for a formal quote and sample</p>
</div>E-Commerce Loves Snow Dayshttp://www.yeomantechnologies.com/profiles/blog/e-commerce-loves-snow-days2018-02-03T12:50:00.000Z2018-02-03T12:50:00.000ZChannel Management Servicehttp://www.yeomantechnologies.com/members/ChannelManagementService<div><p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3294931983?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="210" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3294931983?profile=RESIZE_320x320" class="align-left" style="padding: 5px;" width="210" /></a>Snow days typically evoke cheers from kids and groans from your retail partners. &#160;Bad driving, no foot traffic, and limited staff mean yesterday's big blizzard was likely a bust for revenue except for e-commerce. &#160;Superstorm Juno may have crushed the malls, but it made online sales jump in almost every category.</p>
<p>Yeoman analyzed the "storm day" online activity and performance results of 125,000 client products across multiple markets including B2C, B2B, and Education segments. &#160;We also analyzed performance of these items on Amazon. &#160; The comparison was simple - how did year over year sales compare on the storm days this year versus last year. Last years days were cold but there were no major storms in the East coast.</p>
<p>Some of the results are pretty obvious, but there are a few surprises. &#160;Traffic and revenue to B2B sites and B2B products dipped. &#160;No surprise there; did everyone really work from home? &#160;B2C product revenue had the biggest jump up 44% versus prior year. &#160;Amazon specific activity showed a much higher visitor jump and a similar revenue spike.</p>
<p>Education/institutional products were the most interesting surprise. You would expect them to follow the same B2B dip, but instead we saw a 'consumer like' spike of almost 40% and the strongest increase in traffic. &#160;</p>
<p>We all know that January isn't a strong sales month for any market whether its B2C, B2B, or education. &#160;However, this ecommerce 'storm surge' has some great lessons for any business:</p>
<ol>
<li>Always be available. &#160;Offers, shipping, and pricing needs to be 7x24</li>
<li>Mobile and tablet traffic surged higher than normal traffic. Site with 'mobile/tablet' friendly options surged as well</li>
<li>It was all about the products. &#160;Even sites with minimal traffic increases saw double digit growth in visitors reviewing product detail pages. &#160;More time to look means more time to review and evaluate</li>
</ol>
<p>Today's traffic will likely follow a similar result as folks slowly ramp back up. &#160;Great opp for some aggressive paid search or a 'reminder' email blast to get those online browsers!</p>
<p>Yeoman specializes in digital consulting and data analysis for manufacturers, publishers, and new ventures. &#160;Contact us by using an option on the right to learn more. &#160;We always work on snow days.</p>
<p>NOTE: Updated 2/3 with additional data points from the 2/2 storm as well as the 1/26-27 storms.</p>
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</div>How Big is Your Net? The Best Cast for Winning Government Bidshttp://www.yeomantechnologies.com/profiles/blog/how-big-is-your-net-the-best-cast-for-winning-government-bids2018-01-24T16:00:00.000Z2018-01-24T16:00:00.000ZCherie Balakierhttp://www.yeomantechnologies.com/members/CherieBalakier<div><p style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><font face="Calibri" size="3"><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3294932846?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="225" class="align-left" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3294932846?profile=RESIZE_320x320" /></a>The sea of government bids is a wide, daunting space. Whether you are fishing for smaller bids with a single line, or a school of large government RFP’s, chances are you don’t have the right equipment to suit your business needs.</font></p>
<p style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><font face="Calibri" size="3">Yeoman Technology Group has just the right equipment for the voyage. We have a department of research experts expertly appointed to find all of the fish, big and small, that fit your business niche. We scour the seas daily for the best local, state and federal bids that translate into a bigger sales haul at the dock for you.</font></p>
<p style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><font face="Calibri" size="3">Think we’re telling fish stories? Contact us and we’ll set up a free trial service to scour the&#160;vast internet ocean of RFP’s, RFQ’s, RFI’s, and more. There’s market share to gain. We don’t just drop fish off at the dock though, there’s more. We provide bid monitoring through the entire sale cycle (pre-bid advertisements to bid tabulation and awards). Want to know who caught the prize-winning fish that your company missed? We’ll deliver that research. It’s good to know who you’re competing with. Then equip your boat with the margin intelligence you need to catch the next fish first.</font></p>
<p style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><font face="Calibri" size="3">Drop us a line and we’ll be happy to assist.</font></p>
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</div>What Brands Need to Know about AI Right Now: VentureBeat Webinarhttp://www.yeomantechnologies.com/profiles/blog/what-manufacturers-need-to-know-about-ai-right-now-webinar2018-01-19T17:40:00.000Z2018-01-19T17:40:00.000ZMichael Healeyhttp://www.yeomantechnologies.com/members/MichaelHealey<div><p><a href="https://www.brighttalk.com/webcast/12339/300755" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img width="250" class="align-left" style="padding: 10px;" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3294933236?profile=RESIZE_320x320" width="250" /></a>AI (Artificially Intelligence) has gone mainstream.&#160; It's use in analytics, customer service, social marketing, even prototyping have moved from the lab out into the field.&#160; And there's a host of cloud based options that have driven the cost down even the smallest brands.&#160; &#160;If AI still sounds like science fiction to you, you might be in imminent danger of falling behind the competition. But it’s not too late to get up to speed and start using AI to advance your business.</p>
<p>Brands can start using AI right now to take marketing analytics, customer service, and social engagement to the next level. However, tread carefully.&#160; While the power of AI promises to increase customer engagement and conversions, it can create a mess of automated chats and responses that will make you a viral laughing stock.</p>
<p>We've partnered with our friends at VentureBeat to host a free webinar: “<a href="https://www.brighttalk.com/webcast/12339/300755" target="_blank" rel="noopener">AI-powered customer engagement isn’t optional anymore</a>,” live online on Feb 27<sup>th&#160;</sup> &#160;We’ll discuss:</p>
<ul>
<li>What’s new in AI for 2018</li>
<li>How businesses like yours are using AI to drive results</li>
<li>How to go beyond customer retention and achieve customer engagement</li>
</ul>
<p>The webinar is free, but you need to register at&#160;<a href="https://www.brighttalk.com/webcast/12339/300755">https://www.brighttalk.com/webcast/12339/300755</a></p>
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